Found in Germany after 70 years: the lost Lancaster Bomber crew

The remains of five missing British airmen have been discovered inside the
wreckage of their Lancaster bomber after 69 years with the help of an
eye-witness who saw the aircraft crash on its return from a World War Two
raid.

The discovery was made following the work of a team of German historians. Volunteers spent hours digging a muddy field looking for the RAF crew after the witness guided them to the site near Frankfurt.

A Rolls Royce engine and landing gear of the Lancaster bomber was found followed by 'hundreds' of fragments of human bones in what would have been the cockpit.

The dig was questioned by some locals who could not understand why the team were searching for British airmen who bombed their cities.

Uwe Benkel, who led the search, said they felt obliged to find the missing men and bring comfort to their families who knew nothing of how or where they died.

Some of the relatives have now expressed their gratitude to the amateur historians and are hoping to finally bury their loved ones seven decades after their deaths.

Lancaster ED427 was one of 327 bombers that took part in a raid on the Skoda armaments works at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. On their return to their base at RAF Fiskerton, Lincs, they came under fire from German anti-aircraft flak.

Eye-witness Peter Menges saw the plane on fire before it crashed into a field outside the village of Laumersheim, near Frankfurt, and exploded into a fireball. It was one of 36 bombers which failed to make it back to Britain that night.

The impact of the crash created a large crater in the ground. The German military recovered two of the bodies from the wreckage - thought to have been Sgt Cope and Canadian Pilot Officer Watt - and buried them.

After the war, the British Air Ministry tried to find the final resting place of the crew but with no success.

It was assumed their aircraft had crashed in the sea and their names were added to the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey dedicated to 20,000 servicemen with no known grave.

Mr Benkel, a health insurance clerk by day, began researching military plane crashes 25 years ago and now leads a voluntary recovery group that has examined 400 crashes and recovered the bodies of 38 airmen.

He recently began looking into ED427 and found Mr Menges, 83, culminating in the dig that took place last Saturday.

Mr Benkel said: "Peter lived in the next village. He saw the plane coming down on fire and saw the explosion. His parents didn't allow him to go and see the plane that night.

"He went the next morning and the German military were there. From what he saw the majority of the parts were on the surface and taken away.

"There was a big crater in the ground, within a couple of days it was filled in with rocks and dirt and was covered up for the next 69 years.

"Peter showed me the site and we used metal detectors and radar photos to examine it."

The team dug five metres deep in a 100 square metre area and found sections of the fuselage, cockpit, landing gear, a tyre, a burnt parachute, tools and ammunition.

Mr Benkel believes the remains they found are those of F/O Bone, Sgt Foster, Sgt Yelland, Sgt Rooney and Sgt White as these men would have been in the cockpit at the time.

Sgt Foster's daughter Hazel Snedker was three years old when her father was killed aged 22.

Mrs Snedker, now aged 72 and from Leamington Spa, Warks, said: "I have no memory of my father whatsoever.

"The only memory I have is of my mother fainting when she received the telegram saying he was missing.

"My mother died from tuberculosis when I was six years old and I was bought up by my paternal grandparents. I know that they quietly hoped that there would be some news of their son.

"But in those days very little was spoken about it and you just carried on. When something like that happens you either get bitter and twisted about it or you just get on with it. And now, after all these years, it has all come to light.

"It is a great relief to know what did happen to him and where he is. At least he will now have a grave with a headstone.

"My father had two sisters who are still alive. I know my auntie Joan is very pleased. She wanted to know what happened to her brother."

The British Embassy in Berlin has been made aware of the discovery. It is thought the remains of the men will be buried in the same coffin in a single grave at a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Germany.

Mr Benkel said: "I think it is right they share the same grave. These men flew together and died together. They should now rest together."